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The Comprehensive New Player Thread: Everything You Need To Know To Start Playing AGoT LCG

scantrell24

Posted 28 August 2013 - 02:30 PM

scantrell24

Advanced Member

Small Council

2,235 posts

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Welcome to the comprehensive new-player thread. In the Game of Thrones LCG players use customized decks to assume leadership of one of the great houses of Westeros vying for control of King's Landing and the Iron Throne. To achieve their goals, players launch military attacks against their opponents, undermine their opponents’ plans with intrigues of their own, and make brazen power plays to win the support of the realm.

The Game of Thrones card game launched as a CCG (collectible card game) in 2002. It was designed by Eric Lang at Fantasy Flight Games and based on the novels written by George R.R. Martin. In 2008 the game rebooted as an LCG (living card game). (Some early LCG cards have the old black border instead of white borders as a result). Cards are released in monthly chapter packs ($15 MSRP) with a fixed distribution of 3 copies each of 20 different cards. You know exactly what you're getting when you buy a pack. No chasing rares! The game can by played 1v1 ("joust" - usually more competitive) or with 3-6 players ("melee" - more like a board game). For more information on gameplay, terminology, and tournament history check out the excellent wikipedia page.

WARNING: FFG announced on November 5 2014 that the Wardens cycle of chapter packs end the first edition of the Thrones LCG. At Gencon in August 2015 the Game will reboot with new Core set. The 2nd edition will feature some rules changes while maintaining the essential elements of the 1st edition. Fore more details, please read the letter to the community from lead developed Nate French.

Which House Is For You?The links in this section were penned in 2012, so they're out-of-date but still contain valuable information. The articles lay out the strengths and weaknesses, generally speaking, of each House.For example, Baratheon is associated with rush because they can win power challenges and earn renown easily. However, Baratheon also has some control elements from its shadows and Asshai-themed cards, and recently Bara cards have focused on recursion from the discard pile.

Greyjoy can save its characters from being killed, discard cards from an opponent’s deck, cancel opponent’s effects, and create unopposed challenges. Greyjoy (and Stark) excel at military challenges, but both are relatively poor at intrigue. Greyjoy also features Raider characters and Warship locations.

Stark, on the other hand, can search (“tutor”) for cards, defend challenges successfully, and benefit from winning military challenges. They're home to Direwolves and treasonous House Bolton characters.Martell is known for their card advantage through “reveal” effects, for taking away challenge icons on opposing characters, and for dishing out punishment when you win a challenge against them.Targaryen’s biggest theme is undeniably “burn”, which means reducing the strength of opposing characters and using effects that kill zero-strength characters. Targ also has Dragons and Dothraki. They’re probably the third best House for military might, and they have the best keyword in the game -- ambush -- to take advantage of influence-providing cards.Lannister is all about draw, gold, kneel, and intrigue challenges. They boast top-notch card advantage and economy, they can control opponent’s characters primarily by kneeling them, and they can strip cards from the opponent’s hand. However, Lannister lacks renown and military and power icons, so they’re usually slow to win. You can’t have it all.

What To Buy FirstI do not recommend purchasing cards with the reboot pending, but if you insist, check out the new player buying guide. It’s a good idea to play online first and get a feel for the game’s mechanics before committing to one House, theme, or archetype. You can also browse winning decklists, many of which are posted online, to get a feel for what works.

The current card pool sits around 2000 cards, and about 240 additional cards are added each year. This barrier to entry is a large part of the reason why the game will reboot next year (and rotate cards thereafter). However, the LCG model still makes Thrones a relatively cheap investment. For about $900 you can own 3 copies of every card in the game, which is cheaper than some comparable CCGs. Many players do not feel the need to purchase every chapter pack. Instead they borrow cards for tournaments and use proxies during casual play to fill gaps in their collection. It's also common to split a collection with a friend or two.

Official TournamentsStore championships are the bottom of the organized play pyramid, and they run during January to March. Regional tournaments are more prestigious, and the season runs from May to July. The U.S. National Championship is held at Gen Con in August, and the World Championship is held at FFG headquarters in Minnesota in November. Additionally, many major unofficial tournaments are held in Europe and other countries around the world throughout the year.

Draft Packs:In November 2013, FFG introduced draft packs which allow players to hold draft tournaments. The LCG distribution model previously made drafting difficult - you had to create your own draft cube. But now, to draft each player just needs a reusable starter pack ($5) and a randomized draft pack ($15). Check out this thread for information on the new Westeros draft packsor try the here for the previous draft packs called Fire and Ice.

Play Online FOR FREE via OCTGNOnline organized play is growing rapidly. There are currently bi-annual tournaments, a league, and an invitation-only tournament, all run by dcdennis. There is no subscription necessary to play on OCTGN, but subscribing supports the developers and unlocks some additional features. Cards released in the last six months are censored - you can have either the text OR the picture, but not both. You can host a game or find a game to join in the lobby (click the orange button to refresh). I recommend going to the "Options" tab and changing the "Zoom Behavior" to "display proxies when holding control".

In Thrones, there are no interrupts or "stacks" of effects that are resolved "last in, first out". Once an effect is initiated in this game, it resolves before almost anything else can be triggered (the exceptions are effects that specifically use the words "save" or "cancel").Also, don't forget that abilities preceded by "Any Phase:", "Challenges:", "Marshalling:", "Response, " etc. are optional, but you do have to remember to trigger them!

Challenge icons are only checked during the declare attackers and declare defender steps of a challenge. If, for example, a character already in a military challenge loses it's military icon during the challenge through a card effect, that character stays in the challenge and counts his strength normally.

FFG's Timing:We don't know exactly when the next chapter pack will be released. It's roughly every month, but occasionally there are slight delays (especially between cycles). The F.A.Q. and restricted list are usually updated 3 to 4 times each year during the down-time between tournament seasons (for example, between Store Championship and Regionals, then again after Regionals and before Gen Con).

Previous FAQs were released on 12, February 2015, 15 October 2014, 21 July 2014, 15 April 2014, 14 October 2013, 23 July 2013, 27 February 2013, 11 October 2012, 03 August 2012, 20 March 2012, 19 January 2012, 22 September 2011.

Posted 28 August 2013 - 02:35 PM

accountdeleted

Posted 28 August 2013 - 03:36 PM

istaril

Posted 28 August 2013 - 03:58 PM

istaril

Advanced Member

Contributor

473 posts

Shadows, Joust, Melee, and Naval Enhancments are all present in the last 2 pages of the FAQ (where the old "insert" has now been placed).

One of the top questions I see usually revolves around "what do I buy first?". How should we go about answering that? I'd recommend 2x Core Sets, the deluxe expansions, then an entire cycle at a time starting with the most recent, but I also want to stress that some packs are definitely better than others. A few older ones are essential, but most of them are garbage with rare exceptions (like Tommen and Northern Cavalry Flank in the Scattered Armies pack).

I agree with the recommendation for a second core set, and then the deluxe expansions (or at least the deluxe expansion for the house you like best). I've stayed away from recommending chapter pack cycles in general (although they should be recommended as cycles and not packs), since normally if they've played a few games and started to use the deckbuilders/octgn, they get a feel for the cards they want. That said, if someone is splitting cards with a playgroup, I typically recommend Tourney/Narrow Sea type packs that have a lot of house-specific cards, as opposed to Maesters/Defenders that have a lot of neutrals they would fight over.

scantrell24

Posted 28 August 2013 - 05:22 PM

Shadows, Joust, Melee, and Naval Enhancments are all present in the last 2 pages of the FAQ (where the old "insert" has now been placed).

Ah yes, thanks for pointing that out.

I agree with the recommendation for a second core set, and then the deluxe expansions (or at least the deluxe expansion for the house you like best). I've stayed away from recommending chapter pack cycles in general (although they should be recommended as cycles and not packs), since normally if they've played a few games and started to use the deckbuilders/octgn, they get a feel for the cards they want. That said, if someone is splitting cards with a playgroup, I typically recommend Tourney/Narrow Sea type packs that have a lot of house-specific cards, as opposed to Maesters/Defenders that have a lot of neutrals they would fight over.

Good points. I'll make sure to recommend playing on OCTGN to get a feel for cards first, and to give differing answers depending on whether the purchases are for an individual or a group. Does anyone have links to the First Tilt articles? Are they still relevant?

I'll write something up and make a tutorial video.

That would be awesome. We need a walk through for installing OCTGN itself, installing the Thrones stuff, and how to actually play (how to put cards facedown and how to peek at cards get asked often).

istaril

Posted 29 August 2013 - 12:48 PM

istaril

Advanced Member

Contributor

473 posts

I'm having a few issues recording the tutorial, most of which I think I can solve with a slightly less awful microphone. I'll still do this, but it'll probably have to wait two weeks until the move when I can justify buying things again without taking up precious U-Haul space.

agktmte

Posted 29 August 2013 - 08:13 PM

agktmte

Advanced Member

Members

833 posts

I'm having a few issues recording the tutorial, most of which I think I can solve with a slightly less awful microphone. I'll still do this, but it'll probably have to wait two weeks until the move when I can justify buying things again without taking up precious U-Haul space.

If you record the video and write out a voice over script someone else can record the audio for it. Yes, I will volunteer myself for that aspect if no one else would rather do it. This might make it happen sooner and then you won't have to buy anything extra.

JCWamma

Posted 29 August 2013 - 09:13 PM

JCWamma

Advanced Member

Small Council

1,744 posts

I've got my own one (www.twitch.tv/jcwamma), but while I can stream videos fine, I'm not the most savvy and don't know how to save them. If someone could tell me that then there'll be a resource there too.

I'll try to compile the Rise of the Kraken articles into an easy list to add to this, so any budding Greyjoy player can learn their trade .

agktmte

Posted 29 August 2013 - 10:17 PM

agktmte

Advanced Member

Members

833 posts

If anyone has saved videos (of live games or octgn games) it could be good to see if someone else (Staton maybe?) wants to go through them with commentary to explain what's going on. Perhaps we could even use some games to make tutorial videos if they don't involve anything too complex during the game.

scantrell24

Posted 30 August 2013 - 05:33 PM

scantrell24

Advanced Member

Small Council

2,235 posts

If anyone has saved videos (of live games or octgn games) it could be good to see if someone else (Staton maybe?) wants to go through them with commentary to explain what's going on. Perhaps we could even use some games to make tutorial videos if they don't involve anything too complex during the game.

JRoel

Posted 30 August 2013 - 08:13 PM

JRoel

Advanced Member

Members

154 posts

I just got that all set up to stream and record my own games, it's quite easy actually. I downloaded OBS (http://obsproject.com/), and have used it a couple times to stream on twitch. You can also use it to save recorded matches to your computer. Twitch actually has a quide specifically for obs, in addition to guides for a number of other broadcasting software: http://help.twitch.t...caster-software